LORETA VAIČIULYTĖ-SEMĖNIENĖ

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

A BIG THANK-YOU AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH

IN CONTEMPORARY LITHUANIAN (WRITTEN) LANGUAGE

KEYWORDS: expression of gratitude, interjection, inversion, information structure of the sentence, interlingual communication.

ABSTRACT

The object of this article is the expressions of gratitude thank you, thank you very much and a big thank-you, thanks. The aim, drawing on material from the Corpus of Contemporary Lithuanian Language (DLKT), is to establish how the expressions of gratitude under discussion relate to thank you very much, I thank you very much, I am very grateful, great gratitude, and I thank you very much, I am very grateful indeed, and similar expressions; and to examine the influence of word order in other languages on inverted expressions of gratitude in Lithuanian. Expressions of gratitude are examined from syntactic-semantic and information-structural perspectives. The study showed that a sender chooses the inverted form thank you very much when wishing to emphasize the word thank you itself or its modifier very much, as in the case of I thank you very much, I am very grateful indeed. Examples from the DLKT revealed that a big, heartfelt thank-you tends to be used when the addressee interprets thank you as a noun; in a (in)transitive sentence, a big, heartfelt thank-you occupies the predicate-argument position by analogy with great, heartfelt gratitude (I offer you my heartfelt gratitude (a heartfelt thank-you); heartfelt gratitude (a heartfelt thank-you) is due to you).

1. INTRODUCTION. THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS

With regard to language norms, Lithuanian expressions of gratitude¹ thank you (thanks)² very much and a big thank-you (thanks)³ are evaluated differently. For example, Antanė Kučinskaitė (1985: 29, see also 1990: 32ff;

¹ According to pragmatic theory, expressions of gratitude are performatives; in this article, following Egidijus Zaikauskas (2002), they are understood in the broad sense. For a fuller discussion of performativity as a synthetic phenomenon with grammatical, lexical-semantic, and pragmatic features, see Zaikauskas 2000, 2002 and the literature cited there.

² Cf. DLKŽ_e: thank you – a word used when thanking; thanks – a polite word used to express gratitude, thank you.

BLKŽ: thank you – a word used when thanking; thanks – said when expressing gratitude.

³ Henceforth, when discussing expressions such as thank you very much, thank you very much, a big thank-you, and the like, identical expressions with thanks and vice versa are also meant.

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2007: 496) states that instead of the uncreatively translated-from-Russian a big thank you, “it would be more Lithuanian to say thank you very much.” Danguolė Mikulėnienė, who compiled the booklet How Not to Speak (KNK 1991: 9, 26), believes that both thanks very much and sincere thanks are calques that should not be used and ought to be replaced with thank you very much, my sincere thanks, thank you, I thank you very sincerely. Jonas Šukys (2003: 293; 2006: 304) holds the same view: a big thanks, borrowed from Russian, should be corrected; and, especially in the increasingly common expression modeled on English, thanks a lot, “the adverb very should not be moved to the end.” The expression of thanks thanks a lot is discouraged⁴ in the Language Advice guidelines considered by the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language and compiled by Rita Miliūnaitė, Language Advice (KP2 (S3) 2009: 43). The same view, which is commonly cited⁵, is also presented in the consultation database_e of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (VLKK⁶): according to the neutral order of modifier and modified word in a phrase (sunny day, very beautiful), the discouraged thanks a lot is advised to be replaced with many thanks and/or thank you very much, while the construction a big thanks should be corrected. The VLKK_e consultation database also presents a different view—that of Professor Albinas Drukteinis. In his opinion, thanks a lot is not a calque or a construction to be avoided, since it is a typical inversion in which the more important word is moved forward. Aleksas Girdenis (1996: 302) has likewise noted that the much-criticized thanks a lot is not uncommon in Samogitia and does not grate on the ears of its speakers. Examples of this and similar expressions are also found in contemporary written Lithuanian (see sentences 1–2), which provides the basis for examining the reasons for their use and their (in)appropriateness.

1) – Maybe you really should let me; I can carry some. – Thank you, ačiū širdingai. I say, we country folk are used to it. But you, I gather, aren’t a digger in the earth. – How can you tell? – From your voice. What else? 2) I would like to express my special thanks to the Head of the Department of Education, Prof. Habil. Dr. M. B.⁷, who continued to encourage and support me while I was preparing the methodological publication. My nuoširdus ačiū. I would be grateful for any comments and suggestions.

In her monograph, which examines in detail the semantics and pragmatics of Lithuanian language etiquette formulas, Giedrė Čepaitienė (2007, see also 2014) does not regard examples of inverted word order as

⁴ “To be avoided” means “indicates that the phenomenon being evaluated has not been established as a norm of standard language; it should be avoided as already nonstandard and without prospects, or as not yet standard, insufficiently researched, etc.” (KP2 (S3) 2009: 9).

⁵ See, for example: https://www.kretinga.lt/node/10056 (accessed 2018 10 20); http://www.santaka.info/?sidxx=44556 (accessed 2018 10 20).

⁶ See http://www.vlkk.lt/konsultacijos/98-didelis-aciu-didelis-dekui (accessed 2018 10 20). See also: http://www.vlkk.lt/naujienos/pakomisiu-naujienos/kp3-sintakse-iii-dalis-apsvarstyta-antra-karta

“It was decided not to consider the expressions ačiū labai or dėkui labai errors. Of course, labai ačiū (dėkui) is more recommended, but Lithuanian word order is quite free; adverbials are used both before and after the attribute, e.g., labai žaviuosi and žaviuosi labai, labai dėkoju and dėkoju labai.”

⁷ When individuals are identified by both first and last name in illustrative examples, only their initials are retained.

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sometimes relies on (e.g.: I thank them with all my heart⁸; Dear Madam! I thank you sincerely for taking me in Bit 477⁹; Thank you so very much; I don’t know where I’d have ended up without you GyvK¹⁰ (Čepaitienė 2007: 184, 187; see also ibid.: 188)), whereas thank you very much is left without comment. This article is based on the assumption that both I thank you with all my heart / sincerely or the like, and thank you sincerely, used in the first sentence, are motivated constructions chosen for similar reasons. The discussion proceeds from grammatical to pragmatic criteria and examines what influences the choice to use thank you very much (and) or a big, heartfelt thank-you.

Thus, the subject of this article is expressions of gratitude thank you very much, a big thank-you. The aim of the study is to discuss the use of the constructions thank you very much, a big thank-you and their relationship to many thanks; I thank you very much, I thank you very much; I am grateful, grateful I am; much gratitude and the like. The objectives are: using material from the Corpus of Contemporary Lithuanian (DLKT¹¹), to examine expressions of gratitude with inverted word order in contemporary written Lithuanian; to compare them with examples featuring neutral word order; to discuss correlations in word order in the constructions under discussion in translations; and to determine the reasons for using a big thank-you and the like. This is a corpus- and translation-based study.

The material studied comprises 800 Lithuanian sentences from the DLKT, compiled at the Centre of Computational Linguistics of Vytautas Magnus University. Examples were collected for the study using dėkoju, dėkingas, -a, padėka, -ą, ačiū, dėkui. After entering one of the words listed into the extended search field, examples were selected in which these words have modifiers (attributive or manner) expressed by adjectives, adverbs, or prepositional constructions, for example, great gratitude, very grateful, I thank you with all my heart, endless thanks and the like. In sequence, 120 sentences were selected for the study in which the performative verb dėkoju has preposed or postposed manner modifiers (cf. sentences 3–4), 270 sentences with dėkui, ačiū, 280 with dėkingas, -a, and 130 sentences with padėka, -ą, when these are used with preposed or postposed modifiers (cf. sentences 5–9; see also sentences 1–2).

3) Dear Aunt Georgie, I thank you endlessly for the wonderful food.

4) Time is very much on my side. Thank you all of you with all my heart.

5) – So if you stay a subscriber for a year, you get discounts, you know. – Mm... – They give you either more minutes or, um, more... – Well, thanks, thank you very much!

⁸T corresponds to the abbreviation DLKT used in this article.

⁹ Bit – Bitė-Petkevičaitė G. Raštai 6. Vilnius: Vaga, 1968.

¹⁰ GyvK – spoken language.

¹¹ Available online: http://tekstynas.vdu.lt. Most of the DLKT consists of publicistic texts (63.8 percent); some texts are translated from other languages. Examples for the article were collected from the DLKT in September 2018.

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6) Buddha summoned him and said: “Cunda, in my life I have tasted only two meals for which I feel extraordinarily grateful. The first time was in Sudžiatore and helped me attain Enlightenment; the second time was in this house.”

7) After slamming the door, he returned to his office. Roger picked up the keys. – I am very grateful for what you told me, Mr Bitner. Thank the members of this committee. But I... I... I feel uncomfortable when I have to accept gifts.

8) I am grateful to the assistants who worked with me at various times: Mr P. P., V. Š., Associate Professor J. Ž. Sincere thanks to the staff of the newspapers “Tėviškės žinios” and “Kauno apskritis” for opening the pages of their publications to my suggestions and reflections.

9) The book’s design was handled by the artist R. P. and the text layout designer S. V. I express my sincere gratitude to them.

To determine whether the word order of other languages influences expressions of thanks, the article draws on material from LINGUEE, an online translation dictionary with a search function¹². LINGUEE provides translations of a selected word (word combination) for a chosen language pair, for example, Lithuanian–English. Here one can find words in minimal context, translated in parallel in various texts (legal and political texts of European Union institutions, patent documents, and the websites of companies, organizations, and universities). Examples were sought by selecting the following language pairs: English→Lithuanian, German→Lithuanian, and vice versa¹³, and entering, for example, the words Dankeschön, thanks, thank you or the expression thank you so much, danke schön, I thank you very much, thank you very much, and so on, in the search field. The translations found containing the expressions of thanks under discussion come from the following websites: eur-lex.europa.eu, europa.eu, europarl.europa.eu. The discussion below draws on 128 expressions of thanks in which the main component of the expression of thanks in both or one of the languages involved in translation has (manner or attributive) modifiers. Specifically, among the 128 examples, 36 are cases in which the same Lithuanian sentence has been translated into both English and German (i.e. 18 Lithuanian→English and 18 Lithuanian→German) (cf. sentences 10–11); 20 are cases in which the same Lithuanian sentence is associated with different translation directions: 10 Lithuanian sentences have been translated from English (English→Lithuanian), and the same 10 sentences from Lithuanian into German (Lithuanian→German) (i.e. English→Lithuanian→German) (cf. sentences 12–13). In addition, there are 14 English sentences translated into Lithuanian (English→Lithuanian) and 10 in the reverse direction (Lithuanian→English) (cf. sentences 14–15); 15 German sentences translated into Lithuanian (German→Lithuanian), and 33 from Lithuanian into German (Lithuanian→German) (cf. sentences 16–17

¹² Available online https://lt.linguee.com/.

¹³ The LINGUEE translation dictionary does not include translations between Lithuanian and Russian.

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sentences). Thus, there are 15 examples of expressions of thanks translated from German into Lithuanian and 61 from Lithuanian into German, as well as 24 from English into Lithuanian and 28 from Lithuanian into English.

10) I am very pleased with your precise and specific answer, so thank you very much.

I am very satisfied with your very precise and concrete answer, so thank you very much indeed.

11) I am very pleased with your precise and specific answer, so thank you very much.

I am very satisfied with your very precise and specific answer, thank you very much for that.

12) Mr President, thank you very much for these two reports – which we can evaluate as being for the new Parliament and, probably, for the current Commission still, as well as for the new Commission...

Mr President, thank you very much for these two reports—which we can regard as intended for the new Parliament and perhaps still for the current Commission, as well as the new Commission...

13) Mr President, thank you very much for these two reports—which we can regard as intended for the new Parliament and perhaps still for the current Commission, as well as the new Commission...

Mr President, I would very much like to thank you for these two reports thank, which will be submitted for evaluation to the new Parliament and probably also to the current and incoming Commission...

14) Thank you so much for being here with us.

Thank you very much for being with us.

15) And I sincerely thank him for his care.

I sincerely thank him for his care.

16) First of all, on my part as well, a very heartfelt thank-you to the rapporteur, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, who has done outstanding work...

First of all, I am very grateful to the rapporteur, K. H. Lehne, for his excellent work.

17) Thank you very much, Mr President.

Many heartfelt thanks, Mr President.

Straipsnyje remiamasi Elizavetos Kotorovos (2013a, 2013) ir jos bei Wolfgango Gladrowo (2015, 2017) požiūriu į pagrindinį komunikacijos vienetą – šnekos aktą, kurį jie apibrėžia kaip unifikuotą šnekos elgesio modelį (ŠEM) (rus. модель речевого поведения (МПП), vok. Sprachhandlungsmuster, angl. speech behavior pattern). Tai struktūruotas tą patį komunikacinį

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tikslą turinčių pasakymų rinkinys. Annos Wierzbickos (1972, 1985, 1987; 1991) semantinės metakalbos ir semantinių primityvų teorijos¹⁴ pagrindu autoriai teigia, kad ilokucinis ŠEM turinys ir sandara yra universalūs. Raiška atskirose kalbose (gali skirtis) skiriasi, (gali būti) lemiama skirtingų kultūrų¹⁵. Į vieną ar kitą ŠEM įeinantys tarpusavyje susiję pasakymai sudaro sistemą – komunikacinį-pragmatinį lauką¹⁶, kurio dominantė – adresanto komunikacinis tikslas, būdingas visiems to lauko elementams¹⁷. Raiškos požiūriu lauko struktūra yra graduota: ji sudaro prototipines (centro) ir (labiau) periferines raiškos priemones. Pavyzdžiui, komunikacinių-pragmatinių pasisveikinimo ir padėkos laukų raiškos prototipai rusų ir vokiečių kalbose skiriasi (Здравствуйте! resp. Guten Tag! Hallo!; Спасибо resp. danke)¹⁸. Kiekvienoje bendravimo situacijoje adresantas, atsižvelgęs į komunikacinį ŠEM tikslą, komunikacinius-pragmatinius veiksnius ir struktūrą¹⁹, iš komunikacinio-pragmatinio lauko vieną ar kitą kalbą pasirenka labiausiai (ati)tinkantį pasakymą. Tokia ŠEM kaip šnekos akto samprata pasirodė paranki kalbėti apie galimas (LINGUEE pagrindu) lietuvių, anglų, vokiečių kalbų padėkos raiškų ir žodžių tvarkos jose koreliacijas ir (arba) skirtumus.

The addresser’s position, relationship to the content of the message and to its intended recipient are evident in written language from the sentence’s information structure²⁰ – the division of sentence constituents according to their information load. The means of expressing information structure may be identical and/or different across languages (e.g., Lambrecht 1994; Holvoet 2003: 91t; Griškevičienė 2008; Vaskelienė 2015 and the literature cited therein). In Jolanta Vaskelienė’s (2015) view, the main

¹⁴ Pagal semantinių primityvų teoriją, Anna Wierzbicka (1987: 214) padėkos šnekos aktą apibrėžia taip: „I know that you have done something that is good for me. I say: I feel something good towards you because of that. I say this because I want to cause you to know what I feel towards you. I assume that you would want to hear me say this to you“. Plg.: „I know: you did something good for me; I feel something good towards you because of this; I say this because I want you to feel something good“ (Wierzbicka 1991: 157)

¹⁵ For a broader discussion of the influence of different cultures on Lithuanian and English request strategies, see Hilbig (2009); on Russian and German thanking strategies, see Kotorova (2013); on Swedish and Polish, and German, thanking strategies, see Zborowski (2005) and the extensive literature cited therein.

¹⁶ “The term ‘communicative-pragmatic field’ is understood to mean, accordingly, the interrelation of linguistic utterance patterns within one and the same strategy of communicative action” (Kotorova 2013a: 60).

¹⁷ “Communicative-pragmatic fields bring together an inventory of diverse grammatical, lexical, word-formation, topological and prosodic means serving to express a particular illocutionary goal” (Gladrow, Kotorova 2015: 32).

¹⁸ “The same illocutionary goal may be expressed by different means in different languages and cultures; the distribution of means across the field may also depend on language and culture. In this sense, the field model is a useful tool for contrastive analysis and can provide clear results” (Kotorova 2013a: 64; see also Kotorova 2013 on this topic).

¹⁹ “As a rule, four components can be distinguished in a full performative formula: the Action component, the Speaker component, the Addressee component and the Occasion component (for performing the speech act). <…> Each component of the performative formula may exhibit similarities and differences in its grammatical form in each of the languages being compared” (Gladrow, Kotorova 2015: 31t).

²⁰ Teorinių darbų apie aktualiąją sakinio skaidą apžvalgą žr. Vaskelienė (2015) ir ten cituojamą literatūrą.

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The indicators of the actual division of Lithuanian sentences are neutral and inverted word order, as well as logical stress. Axel Holvoet (2003: 91) mentions three means of expressing actual division: intonation, segmental markers (tai), and word order. The author uses the latter as the main indicator, but acknowledges that “only some word-order phenomena reflect differences in actual division” (Holvoet 2003: 98). In addition to these means of expressing actual division, Knud Lambrecht (1994: 6ff.) also discusses criteria involving sentence structure (active vs. passive), functional sentence types (declarative resp. interrogative resp. exclamatory), the choice of lexical units and their status in the sentence (cf. mano mašina sugedo; man sugedo mašina).

Vytautas Ambrazas Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos gramatikoje (DLKG 1996: 645) teigia, kad „[l]ietuvių kalbos žodžių tvarka daugiausia priklauso nuo jų sintaksinių ryšių bei prasminių santykių sakinyje ir nuo aktualiosios sakinio skaidos, nuo bendraujant kylančių poreikių išryškinti bei pabrėžti tam tikras sakinio dalis“. DLKG skiriami neutralūs ir inversiniai laisvos žodžių tvarkos modeliai. Neutraliose laisvos žodžių tvarkos modeliuose „žodžiai išdėstomi pagal įprastinius jų vartojimo polinkius ir adresatas į tokią tvarką neverčiamas kreipti dėmesio“ (DLKG 1996: 646). Tokie žodžių tvarkos modeliai yra stilistiškai nežymėti. Pavyzdžiui, „[n]etiesioginis papildinys dažniausiai eina prieš tiesioginį“, o būdo prieveiksmių ir atitinkamos reikšmės linksnių formų bei prielinksninių konstrukcijų „neutrali ir vyraujanti vieta – prieš veiksmažodį“ (DLKG 1996: 651, 653; Ambrazas 1982: 107) (žr. 18–19 sakinius; plg. 3 sakinį).

18) He forgives his daughter-in-law all the wrongs done to him so far. (quoted from DLKG 1996: 651)

19) [I] sincerely thank the principal of this gymnasium, G. V., for the invitation. DLKT

Inverted, i.e. stylistically marked, patterns are conditioned by the context and the speech situation. The position of an adverbial of manner after the verb is inverted (I know well, he said clearly)²¹, as is the position of an agreeing attribute after the noun (homeland dear, home forgotten)²² (Ambrazas 1982: 108; DLKG 1996: 653ff.; Pikčilingis 2010: 192ff.). “Syntactically related groups of words are most often separated when one wishes to emphasize some of their words, to give them greater

²¹ Cf. “Again, another person, having heard somewhere that adverbs do not suit our language at the end of a sentence, keeps shifting adverbs before the verb, whether necessary or not, even though sometimes, because of the very structure of the sentence and especially because of logical stress, that adverb must be at the end. In this way, even with good intentions, the variety and flexibility of the language may sometimes be levelled” (Žirgulys 1962: 10).

²² “Jablonskis did not hesitate to change the position of the attribute and the word it modifies in a complex sentence when necessary. <...> The language mingled with the clinking of bottles, goblets and glasses. <...> Word order that is not entirely usual also occurs. <...> Then, for the ancient inhabitants of Europe, a new life began. <...> If it were not known that these sentences were by J. Jablonskis, someone would probably leap to improve them, especially to correct that “unsuitable” word order” (Žirgulys 1962: 13f.).

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meaning, and therefore they are moved to the beginning or the end of the sentence” (DLKG 1996: 646; see also ibid.: 653; Ambrazas 1982: 107f.; Pikčilingis 2010: 191²³; Žirgulys 1962: 14) (see sentences 20–21; cf. sentences 7 and 4).

20) I am no master at all. (quoted from DLKG 1996: 646)

21) We live well. (quoted from DLKG 1996: 653)

The choice of one or the other (neutral or inverted) word-order pattern depends greatly on the actual division of the sentence—theme and rheme. “From the perspective of communication, the rheme is the most important part of an utterance. <...> The theme is usually expressed before the rheme²⁴. A rheme that one wishes to express earlier, at the beginning of the sentence, is emphasized or set apart by a particular intonation or inverted word order²⁵” (DLKG 1996: 646f.; see also Ambrazas 1982; Vaskelienė 2015).

Remiantis A. Holvoetu (2009: 23), manytina, kad „iš dviejų situacijos dalyvių – gyvo, asmeninio agento ir jo veiksmą patiriančio negyvo paciento (Jonas varto laikraštį) – kalbėtojas universaliai bus linkęs tema pasirinkti agentą (kad ir dėl empatijos principo) (šis polinkis yra žinomas kaip topicworthiness – inherentinis temiškumas)“. Taigi pagal neutralios žodžių tvarkos ir aktualiosios sakinio skaid os koreliaciją lietuvių kalbos sakiniuose galima teigti, kad „subjektas yra nežymėtos temos sugramatinimo rezultatas, o nežymėta tema, savo ruožtu, remiasi su agentyvumu ir gyvumu susijusiu inherentiniu temiškumu“ (Holvoet 2009: 25), ir kelti prielaidą, kad pagal 21-ą sakinį (Mes gyvenam gerai) galima pagrįsti padėkos raiškas (=4) dėkoju iš visos širdies, (=1) ačiū širdingai, o (ne)tinkamai vartojamas (=2) nuoširdus ačiū, matyt, susijęs su daiktavardine (=8) nuoširdi padėka (žr. toliau).

The article adopts the view that the form of expressing gratitude chosen in writing can be explained as pragmatically motivated (Lambrechт 1994: 11f., 29, 41); it proceeds from structure to pragmatics. In order to verbalize their communicative intentions, the sender does not create new structures, but makes creative and competent use of those already available in the language (cf. Lambrecht 1994: 26ff., 31).

The study employs descriptive, comparative, and syntactic-semantic analysis methods.

²³ “[E]ach sentence constituent has, in any case, one customary position peculiar to it; when this position is changed, the word acquires a certain emphasis—the intonation of the whole sentence changes. And this is easy to explain: our eyes will always turn to the word used as if it were not in its usual place. Thus, what is expressed in speech by raising the voice and through intonation is highlighted in written language by changing the customary word order, or by inversion” (Pikčilingis 2010: 191).

²⁴ Tai parodė ir J. Vaskelienės (2015) pristatytas empirinis tyrimas, kur remiamasi 35 valandų trukmės įvairių tekstų įrašų medžiaga, tema eina prieš remą 77 proc. visų išanalizuotų sakinių.

²⁵ “An examination of 26,066 sentences from texts in various styles showed that <...> in 10 percent, the rheme precedes the theme; 13 percent of sentences, in which only new information is presented, may be considered rhemes” (Vaskelienė 2015: 90). “Sentences of the latter pattern are more frequent in literary and colloquial styles and in texts of dialogic speech” (ibid.: 97).

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2. THE SEMANTICS OF THANKS

From a communicative perspective, expressions of thanks are utterances in which gratitude is marked as a model (strategy) of polite conduct between communicants (the sender and the addressee). As G. Čepaitienė writes, citing other authors (2007: 180), “gratitude has a clear illocutionary purpose: the utterance is intended to make the addressee understand that the sender appreciates what the addressee has previously done” or still promises to do, “and feels grateful for these actions of the addressee<...>.” Thus, gratitude is the sender’s reaction to an action performed or yet to be performed by the addressee (cf. Wunderlich 1976: 77, 83). In order to express a feeling of gratitude to the addressee—thanks²⁶—the sender must formulate it in such a way that the expression of thanks “makes the speaker’s intention recognizable in the circumstances” (Zaikauskas 2000: 157)²⁷. Gratitude creates a particular atmosphere for a communicative act, which is “characterized not only by politeness but also by friendliness, goodwill, and sincerity. <...> In all cases in which gratitude is expressed, the sender occupies either a lower hierarchical position or one equal to that of the addressee” (Čepaitienė 2007: 180ff.; cf. Czachur 2006: 20ff.; Jakaitienė 2010: 158).

Aptardama padėkos raišką G. Čepaitienė (2007: 182) atkreipia dėmesį į padėkos esminių žodžių žodynines apibrėžtis: Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas (DLKŽe) neatspindi visos performatyviojo dėkoti semantinės struktūros. Veiksmažodžio dėkoti ir daiktavardžio padėka apibrėžtyse, skirtingai nei priešdėlinio padėkoti „pareikšti padėką, pasakyti dėkui“, nėra minima kalbėjimo sema, kuri rodo, kad dėkingumo jausmas (iš)reiškiamas kalba.

The adjective grateful is also important here; dictionaries (DLKŽe, Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian (BLKŽe), Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language (LKŽe)) define it as “expressing or feeling²⁸ gratitude,” for example, He is grateful to me for my help; I still feel grateful to him for his advice (see also sentences 6–7). In addition to the speech-related meaning mentioned above, the adjective in question also has a positive-affect seme. The sender has a reason (typically a positive motive) to feel/be grateful to the addressee as the cause of their positive state (cf. Kotorova 2013: 417).

Piotras Zborowskis (2004: 159t, 2005: 53tt; plg. Kotorova 2013: 417), atsižvelgdamas į tai, kad kalbose dėkojimą reiškiantys veiksmažodžiai etimologiškai yra artimai susiję su galvojimą, mintį reiškiančiais daiktavardžiais (plg.: vok. danken ir Gedanke, angl. thank ir think, švedų tacka ir tack), teigia, jog semantinėje tokių veiksmažodžių struktūroje glūdi pozityvios

²⁶ Cf. LKŽe: gratitude – showing a feeling of gratitude for a good deed, expressing thanks. Cf. DLKŽe: gratitude – expressing gratitude, expressing thanks.

²⁷ Cf.: “[T]he speaker influences the hearer’s mental representation of the world” (Lambrecht 1994: 43).

²⁸ Cf. DLKŽe: to feel – 1. to experience a feeling. BLKŽe: to feel – 1. to experience some feeling or sensation. For the verb to feel and its valency, see Sližienė (1994: 324).

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a thought-related seme: “to thank someone – to reward someone with [good] thoughts, put more simply, to give them good thoughts”²⁹. The author (Zborowski 2004: 157), drawing on the work of Kazimierz Ożóg (1982: 259, 1992: 51ff.), also notes that gratitude and its expression imply the semantics of the verb to want³⁰. According to language etiquette, when the sender makes their feeling of gratitude explicit to the addressee—for example, through the performative I thank you—they also imply “I want you to know that I thank you.” The seme of desire can be made explicit: a modal verb that softens the illocutionary force of the performative verb is then used alongside it: to want (I want / would like / feel like thanking You; cf. I long to thank you sincerely). By analogy with desire, the seme of obligation should also be mentioned in the semantic field of gratitude, as a necessity grounded in moral laws: I have to / must / need to thank You; I have to / should be very grateful to You; I feel obliged to thank you³¹, and so on (e.g., Čepaitienė 2014: 6; Kotorova 2013: 418ff.; Zborowski 2005: 17ff., 85ff., 91ff., 133ff., 156ff.).

Thus, based on what has been said briefly, gratitude as a speech act is a positive state of the sender that passes (or may pass³²) into a positive (giving) action. In a given situation, the sender first feels grateful to the addressee for some positive reason. Wishing the addressee to know (or become aware of) this, and taking into account what seems most relevant in the situation of gratitude, the sender “transforms” the feeling of gratitude (in their heart³³) as precisely as possible into a positive thought³⁴ and presents their thanks in a particular linguistic form as a reward³⁵ for the good done by the addressee (that is, performs a speech act) (I am very grateful; I sincerely thank you; thanks, and so on) (cf. inter alia Czachur 2006: 20ff.; Huber

²⁹ “To thank someone – ‘to reward someone with [good] thoughts,’ or, more simply: ‘to give someone [good] thoughts’” (Zborowski 2004: 159).

Cf. the derivation of the Russian verb благодарить ‘to thank’: дарить + благо, i.e. to give goodness.

³⁰ Veiksmažodžio norėti junglumą žr. Šlizienė (1998: 20).

³¹ Cf. DLKT sentences: I feel it a pleasant duty to give thanks to A. M., who reviewed and authorized the translation of the book.

The editors of the volume have the pleasant duty of thanking the participants in the Grammar Section seminars—speakers and listeners alike—for their stimulating discussions.

³² Cf. DLKT sentences: And then I realized so clearly that my life on that distant night had depended on this poor hunchbacked man, whom I will never dare to thank, because I will not dare to approach and speak to him... I was left alone.

Frodo picked up the phial and, as it began to shine, saw Galadriel again, majestically beautiful but no longer threatening. The hobbit bowed, unable to find words to give thanks.

I still cannot find the words, although I very much want to thank everyone—the doctors in Pasvalys who cared for me, especially the chief physician.

³³ Cf. DLKT sentences:

happy with her parents in childhood was brief. In my heart, I am very grateful to my parents. They taught me to work, to be honest, and to love our land, which fed us, without using a belt or a switch.

He spoke very calmly, and I felt grateful with all my heart that he treated me like an adult, without fatherly lectures.

³⁴ Cf. the DLKT sentence: It is good to be able not only to eat and satisfy one’s hunger, but also to savor, appreciate, and give thanks in one’s thoughts to those who offer us an everyday wonder that we enjoy.

³⁵ Cf. the DLKT sentences: “Why, you ungrateful person?!,” the old woman shouted. “I’m giving you such a gift, and you’re not even grateful! What would you like me to give you? I can grant one of your wishes.

As Shepherd of the Universal Church, accompanied by your prayers, I come to place my gratitude and petitions in Mary’s maternal hands.

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2005: 8; Kotorova 2013: 417t; Searle 1976: 107; Zborowski 2004: 161tt, 2005: 52tt³⁶). For example, the typical subject of the neutral word-order sentence I am very grateful to A. J. for the essay on M. K.’s work (DLKT)—the implied singular personal pronoun I—has a two-layer function: that of an actor (agent [A]) and of a mental-state experiencer (perceiver [Pcp])³⁷. Taking into account what is relevant in the situation of thanking, and for whom and how, the sender selects an expression of thanks from the communicative-pragmatic field and thereby actualizes a state of gratitude resp. an action, cf.: I [Pcp] feel³⁸ grateful; I [Pcp] want to thank; I [PcpA] am grateful³⁹; I [Acp] thank you; I [A] express⁴⁰ my gratitude to you. In cases where, when thanking, it is important for the sender to actualize both their state and the action, they choose to use, for example, I am deeply grateful, and I thank you (DLKT); conversely, when this is not important, they use the grammatically impersonal Thank you⁴¹. As Waldemaras Czachuras writes (2006: 20; cf. Kotorova 2013: 417), the more the sender receives from the addressee, the more strongly they should respond with thanks; that is, the sender should be especially and expressively polite⁴². In grammatical terms, in such cases the sender creates and uses more marked expressions of thanks—with modifiers and/or inverted word order (thank you / thanks resp. thank you very much / thanks very much; thank you / thanks a lot) (see below).

³⁶ Plg. semantinius padėkos šnekos akto komponentus pagal Piotrą Zborowskį (2005: 59): „1. Ich weiß, dass du etwas Gutes für mich getan hast, oder: dass du mir etwas Gutes gegeben hast. 2. Ich sage: ich fühle deswegen etwas Gutes dir gegenüber/habe gute Gedanken über dich; 3. Ich will dir das zu verstehen geben: (A) Ich will, dass du weißt, was ich dir gegenüber fühle/was ich von dir denke, oder: (B) Ich will dir meine guten Gefühle/Gedanken geben, 4. Ich setze voraus, (A) dass du davon wissen willst. (B) dass du meine guten Gefühle/Gedanken annimmst/empfängst.“ Dar plg. 14 išnašą.

³⁷ For a more detailed discussion of the conception of semantic functions as two-layered, which is adopted here, see Drukteinis (2009). Cf. Sližienė (1994: 173).

³⁸ Veiksmažodžio jaustis valentингumą žr. Sližienė (1994: 324).

³⁹ G. Čepaitienė (2014: 2) teigia, kad „čia aktualizuojama netiesioginė reikšmė, t. y. pasakymas esu (būsiu) dėkingas vartojamas vietoj performatyvinio pasakymo dėkoju ir yra jam lygiavertis. Konstrukcija esu (būsiu; būčiau) dėkingas (–a) gali pakeisti veiksmažodį dėkoju visose pozicijose“.

⁴⁰ Veiksmažodžio tarti valentингumą žr. Sližienė (2004: 302).

⁴¹ Plg. Vito Labučio (1998: 137) vadinamojo benario sakinio (kaip kvazisakinio) sampratą.

⁴² “The more substantial the gift, the stronger the element of politeness should be in the appreciative response in the form of thanks. Depending on assessments of the significance of the object of gratitude, the act of thanking may accordingly be regarded as more or less elaborate ‘work’ at the levels of action and expression. Since thanking is, however, characterized by a reactive nature, this work takes place immediately after the transfer of the gift, which is a real event” (Czachur 2006: 20).

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3. EXPRESSING GRATITUDE ACCORDING TO PART OF SPEECH

3.1. In terms of expression, Egidijus Zaikauskas (2002: 80) divides performatives, which have a core and a periphery, into A) pure (classical), B) mixed, C) nominal, D) conventional (performative formulas), and E) dialogic types. Each type has several subtypes. On the basis of E. Zaikauskas’s classification, the expressions of gratitude examined below in this article correspond to A) type personal verb forms (dėkoju), B) type combinations of deverbal nouns (reiškiu, tariu padėką), C) a single noun (padėka), and D) type interjections with formulaic functions (dėkui, ačiū⁴³). The author does not mention adjective performatives (esu dėkingas), which, by analogy with reiškiu padėką, might apparently be classified as mixed. G. Čepaitienė (2007: 182ff.) discusses expressions of gratitude according to whether they are marked by forms of the performative verb dėkoti, by interjections, or occur without a performative verb, that is, in constructions with a noun (padėka) or an adjective (dėkingas, -a).

In this article, expressions of gratitude are discussed according to the part of speech of the key word⁴⁴. First, the discussion concerns those in which the predicative center of the sentence is the first-person singular present-tense form of dėkoti⁴⁵; next, it turns to predicates formed by the adjective dėkingas, -a with first-person singular present-tense verb forms (esu dėkingas). Later, gratitude expressed by the noun padėka with modifiers is examined (nuoširdi padėka; reiškiu nuoširdžią padėką). Finally, expressions of gratitude with dėkui are discussed.

In terms of valency, the key words of expressions of gratitude are trivalent, that is, by virtue of their meaning they open up three free slots, which in a sentence are occupied, besides a subject in the nominative or genitive (aš esu dėkingas; nuoširdi mano padėka), by the beneficiary (addressee) in the dative and either a prepositional phrase with už plus the accusative, expressing the motive (the basis or grounds of an action or state), or a subordinate clause (Sližienė 1994: 173). In communicating, the sender selects an expression of gratitude as a particular

⁴³ The classification of the words ačiū, dėkui by part of speech varies. In Lithuanian grammars, Juozas Pikčilingis treats the indeclinable ačiū, dėkui as interjections, which “are most often treated syntactically not as one or another sentence constituent, but only as its (or the whole sentence’s) substitute” (LKG 1971: 728f., DLKG 1996: 464). Adelė Valeckienė (1998: 200) takes the same view in Funkcinėje lietuvių kalbos gramatikoje. Ačiū, dėkui are also presented as interjections in DLKŽₑ and BLKŽₑ. In LKŽₑ, the words in question are marked interj., a label that covers both interjections and ideophones. E. Zaikauskas (2002) calls ačiū, dėkui ideophones. Juozas Pabrėža (2017: 99), however, classifies the Samogitian ačiū, dėkui as adverbs (cf. Ulvydas 1955: 28, 1957: 135f.; cited from Ulvydas 2000: 176f., 223).

⁴⁴ Cf.: “In Lithuanian, expressions of gratitude are based on the verb dėkoti, from which adjectives, nouns, and interjections dėkui, ačiū are derived” (Jakaitienė 2010: 159).

⁴⁵ “The most convenient means of explicitly expressing illocutionary force, so as to avoid misinterpreting the illocutionary purpose of an utterance, is an utterance containing a performative verb used in a particular grammatical form—the so-called ‘explicit performative.’” (Zaikauskas 2000: 158). Cf. also: “The present tense indicates that an action takes place only at the very moment of speaking and does not extend in duration into either the past or the future. <...> The action is performed by the very utterance or writing of the verb. <...> These meanings are especially characteristic of first-person forms” (DLKG 1996: 295f.).

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strategy such that it guarantees the sender a successful illocution—a speech act of gratitude⁴⁶. Depending on the strategy chosen by the sender, the expression of gratitude used to achieve the illocutionary purpose ranges from maximal (with all syntactic core-word actants made explicit) to minimal (or maximally reduced, with the free valency-actant slots filled from context)⁴⁷ (cf. sentences 22–31).

22) A. T. I thank the deputies for the difficult and probably tedious work, as Deputy V. P. said.

23) When the Fatherland called, they returned from those cozy nests that had already become their own, to give back their experience and love. I thank God for the happiness of knowing one of them.

24) Č. J. Dear colleagues, I thank you. I would like to draw attention to the new Seimas publication, “Seimas Chronicle.”

25) – O noble People! I never even dared to hope for that, – Frodo exclaimed joyfully, while Sam was simply speechless with happiness. – Thank you, O Gildor Inglorion! – said Frodo, bowing.

26) Are you preparing any reforms, and how do you plan to revitalize the town and countryside? Thank you. L. M. S. I thank you for the question, but as I understand it, this is a problem for the entire Government, not just our ministry.

27) “Sorry for calling so late; I probably woke you?” Eva jumps from one thought to another. “No, you didn’t wake me,” Nora tries to reassure her. “Thank you for your trust; thank you for inviting me, but... But I won’t work there. Forgive me, I can’t. “Because of Laima’s letter?” “No. Not only because of it...”

30) That way the question will be easier to deal with and, I think, there will be no need to raise it here as an unresolved matter. CHAIR. Thank you. Mr. G. B. will clarify further, and we’ll conclude.

31) Glancing at Dwalin’s green hood hanging there, he hung his own red one beside it and, placing a hand over his heart, said: “Balin, at your service!” – “Thank you (cf. dėkui)!” replied the utterly astonished Bilbo.

Here, as noted, what matters is not so much the valency actants as the so-called free constituents—modifiers functioning as gratitude intensifiers (cf. sentences 1–17 and 19). According to the modifier’s

⁴⁶ Apie padėkos raiškas ir adresanto strategijas plačiau žr. Ozóg (1982, 1992).

⁴⁷ G. Čepaitienė (2007: 182tt), skirtingai nei šio straipsnio autorė, atskaitos tašku ima komunikacinį padėkos pasakymų aspektą ir padėkos pasakymus aptaria pradedama nuo maksimaliai redukuotų (dėkoju, ačiū ir pan.).

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categorical expression and position relative to the core word of gratitude, the DLKT data are classified in Table 1. The table shows that inverted word order in the gratitude construction (thank sincerely; I am sincerely grateful; thanks very much) accounts for a minority of all the available examples (6.6%, or 53 cases out of 800); the use of sincere, great thanks is even rarer (3.8%, or 30 sentences out of 800)⁴⁸.

TABLE 1. The expression and position of the modifier next to the core word of gratitude (CW)

Modifier’s categorical expression and position relative to CW | Gratitude CW | Verb: I thank | Adjective: grateful | Noun: gratitude | Interjection: thank you, thanks | Total | sincerely CW | 112 (93.3%) | 246 (87.9%) | – | 229 (84.8%) | 587 (73.4%) | CW sincerely | 8 (6.7%) | 34⁴⁹ (12.1%) | – | 11 (4.1%) | 53 (6.6%) | sincere CW | – | – | – | 30 (11.1%) | 30 (3.8%) | sincere CW | – | – | 130 (100%) | – | 130 (16.2%) | Total: | 120 (100%) | 280 (100%) | 130 (100%) | 270 (100%) | 800 (100%)

3.2. In sentences 32–33, the neutral position of manner modifiers—between subject and predicate—is evident. The first-person singular present-tense form (I thank) indicates that the act of thanking takes place at the moment of speaking. Sentence 34 is similar in terms of word order. Here, however, the segmental marker it is would indicate that the subject (I) is not the topic but the contrastive rheme, as, for example, in the sentence I thank you very much (and not someone else) (for a fuller discussion, see Holvoet 2003: 91ff.; see also below). Sentences 35–38 have an implicit first-person singular subject (I). The modifiers expressed in its position are emphatic (very, very or very very): they are used so that the addressee focuses not on the addresser (I) or the act of thanking (I thank), but on the latter’s

⁴⁸ Remiantis P. Zborowski (2005: 75tt) lenkų, švedų kalbų padėkos pasakymų tyrimu, teigtina, kad tai, jog adresantas vienaip ar kitaip žymėtą padėkos strategiją renkasi retai, yra (proto)tipiška. Dar žr. 25 išnašą.

⁴⁹ Here are cases of inversion of the adjective predicate I am sincerely grateful.

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quality and quantity⁵⁰ intensity (cf. very⁵¹ great⁵² gratitude). This is evident in sentence 37, where an inverted benefactive dative (you⁵³) intervenes between the manner (quantity) modifiers that together form one intonational unit (very very) and the predicate. Sentence 38 could be interpreted similarly: the sentence-initial modifier sincerely emphasizes the manner and degree of gratitude (I offer another expression of thanks), conveyed by the conjunction and (I also thank you for that). The manner of the act of thanking can also be highlighted by placing the modifier after the predicate or even farther away—in sentence-final position. This can be seen in sentences 39–42 (see also sentence 4). Moreover, the gratitude in sentences 41–42 can also be interpreted differently: the addresser emphasizes not the gratitude intensifier expressed by heartily / from the bottom of my heart, but the act itself—I thank (cf. it is I who thank you from the bottom of my heart).

32) J. Š. Dear deputies, I thank you very much, Deputy A. T., who responded to the draft resolution prepared by our parliamentary group. Admittedly, some of its provisions do not entirely coincide.

33) H. K. Mr. Chairman and honorable deputies, I thank you very much for giving me the floor. I would like to explain two things.

34) We would quickly go through all the areas of activity, because each of those words affects hundreds of people and touches entire fields and branches of activity. It is I who thank you very much if we could... If you could just ask whether there are any comments on this subparagraph, I would be very grateful.

35) – Really? – I guarantee it! The cook’s face lit up; it was interesting to watch her grief turn into great joy. – Thank you, thank you so much! – she handed Hela a helmet and a key. – You’re my angel, – she said, but then paused for a moment. – And do you know how to use it? – I have some at home!

36) “How can you not be ashamed? He’s in pain, he’s crying” (the child takes pity on the monster), and cleaned the crocodile’s teeth. The crocodile thanked him: “Thank you very, very much, you.” Watching the cartoon, the child learns about the traits and characteristics of certain animals (a crocodile’s paws are too short for it to brush its own teeth).

37) Could you let me leave? – What? Now? During working hours? What do you think you’re doing? I strictly forbid it! – How kind. Thank you very, very much.

⁵⁰ Cf. also the DLKT sentence: – Liudmila, what you’ve just said is a very valuable detail for my research. I thank you a thousand times. Are you really sure that person wasn’t joking? – One hundred percent sure!

⁵¹ Cf.: DLKŽ: very – 1. extraordinarily, especially; 2. greatly, intensely; a lot; 3. truly, entirely.

⁵² Cf.: DLKŽ: big – 1. notable in its volume or size; 3. abundant, plentiful; 4. intense, strong.

⁵³ Cf.: “Generally speaking, those sentence elements, including adverbials, that are moved to the beginning of the sentence or, conversely, pushed to its end are emphasized more. For example, I have missed the sun. <...> The emphasized word sun is the object” (Pikčilingis 2010: 195).

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38) Judging by the weight of the gold, it is obvious that you have considerably lightened your pockets. Sincerely I thank you for that, too. Now here is what we will do. We will rent a ship, sail north, find the children, and free them⁵⁴.

39) My parents, who raised me very freely and with love (for which I thank them from the bottom of my heart), were taken aback when, after finishing the nine-year school and at just eighteen years of age, I unexpectedly announced to them that I had been accepted for a job.

40) His steel spirit and granite will have today become his body and symbol by the wall of this military academy. I feel your love and thank you on behalf of the family sincerely, in a heartfelt, “vetriškai” way (cf. I feel your love and sincerely thank you on behalf of the family).

41) You are probably thinking now about how to get quietly to the ferry, aren’t you? “I am,” Frodo admitted, “although there’s nothing to think about—you just have to go, that’s all.” Thank you very much for your hospitality! You won’t believe it, Mr. Mole, but I was afraid of you and your dogs for thirty years. Quite unnecessarily, of course.

42) – Why can’t I imagine it? I can imagine it perfectly well, dear madam, mm... – Love, – the woman introduced herself. – And thank you from the bottom of my heart. Believe me, Love! – Why “believe me”? – the woman wondered. – I made it perfectly clear that I believe you.

Similarly, the speaker chooses inversion when they want to draw the addressee’s attention to the intensity of their state of gratitude and express thanks using constructions with an adjectival predicate and am. Then, as can be seen in sentences 43–47, unlike the neutral word order in sentences 48–50, manner modifiers are placed before the predicate’s copula, that is, in the position of the subject (I).

43) “I am deeply grateful to God, whose will determined that throughout my life I should be a person of aspiration.”

44) – For whom did you make such beautiful stair railings? – For the pharmacist. And I am very grateful to him. Such a friendship developed that he even persuaded me to start an art-work company. I cannot reveal his surname.

45) Algis, I am sincerely grateful to you for visiting me in hospital at a time when I was really in a very dark mood. I am especially grateful to you for leaving me the book “Bread and Clouds.”

⁵⁴ Cf. the DLKT sentence: To conclude, dear Mr. Ž., once again, I thank you most sincerely for the words of comfort and hope in your letter.

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46) Jau nebe juokais esu dėkingas anam saugumiečiui, kuris parodė, kad galima kitaip perskaityti raidę ir žodį. Tas galioja ir Dievo raštui.

47) When I was little, I knew an old woman. I am very grateful to her. Her name was Anelė, but they called her “My Angel,” and perhaps she really was an angel exiled to a liquor store.

48) It is not difficult for me to talk about the beginning—it is etched into my life. I am profoundly grateful to my parents. I am grateful to them for all the life lessons learned before my twentieth birthday.

49) – I am very grateful to you, ma’am. We are still rising. I think we’ll have to keep flying upward for a while yet.

50) I am grateful with all my heart for all my wretchedness and sickness, for everything imperfect in me, because it leaves me hundreds of loopholes through which I can escape.

The intensity of the addressee’s state of gratitude is further emphasized in the exclamatory sentences 51–54, where at the very beginning of the sentence the manner word how or the interrogative what is used (cf. also sentence 55).

51) Yes, Jesus... when it was time to talk about the fruits, You fell silent... How grateful I am to You for that (cf. Oh, how very grateful I am to You!)! After all, truly—all I can do is let You preserve Your Word within me⁵⁵.

52) I don’t believe in any gods. I believe in the World. So, dear World, how grateful I am to You that I exist. That I was able to enjoy the colors of childhood rainbows.

53) – Turi omeny Jasperą? – susivokė Jolanta. – Malina, jis ne-į-ti-kė-ti-nas! Kai pagalvoju, kad galėjau ištekėt už Viktoro... Kokia aš tau dėkinga (plg. Labai aš tau dėkinga!)! Tik dabar sužinojau, kas yra tikras gyvenimas. Tiesiog jaučiu... –... pavasarinio vėjo gūsį, ką? – užbaigėm abi su Eva.

54) “You can’t even imagine how grateful I am to you.” “You’re welcome. I find it unbelievably appealing that every day seems different to you; they all seem exactly the same to me.”

⁵⁵ Cf. also the DLKT sentence: We all especially loved the little stories for children by Petras Cvirka, Salomėja Nėris, and other writers. Most of all I am grateful to my teacher grateful for instilling a love of books (cf. And most of all, I am grateful to my teacher for instilling a love of books!). This love, which has not faded to this day, was especially important in my later life, because from books I had to learn what I did not hear.

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55) – Diana, stop, don’t talk like that, I love you, you are dearest to me, I am so grateful to fate (cf. I am so grateful) that I met you... Zuzana began to cry as she said these words.

The continuation of the addressee’s state of gratitude in sentence 56 is emphasized by placing time modifiers (until the grave) at the end of the sentence, that is, by moving the temporal adjunct from its usual position at the beginning of the sentence. In sentences 57–58, typical modifiers of time (all my life, forever⁵⁶) can be interpreted as manner modifiers (cf. endlessly⁵⁷ grateful). In view of this, it is entirely possible that intensifiers of gratitude used with an adjectival predicative may be expressed not only by analogy with sentences 43–47 (I am endlessly, forever grateful), but also as in sentence 56, for example, I am grateful to you endlessly, forever, where the modifiers endlessly, forever would have a syncretic meaning: temporal (“continuously”) and manner and degree (“truly”; “very”⁵⁸) (cf. also sentence 59). The syncretic meaning is blocked when a temporal modifier is expressed in the sentence (see sentences 60–61).

56) The circle of my life has come full circle. This is the most beautiful page in my book—your forthcoming monograph... I love you. I am grateful to you until the grave (cf. I have always been / will always be grateful to you [for my whole life]) and I will die in you and with you many, many more times... You are my Nora. You are my Hedda, my Barbora, my Madame Bovary...

57) – I was and will be grateful to her all my life (cf. I was [am] and will be endlessly grateful to her),” Julia asserts.

58) This is how that girl taught me to read. Her name was Uršulė Bakšinskaitė. I am eternally grateful to her (cf. I am very / endlessly grateful to her), and I often pray for her.

⁵⁶ Cf. LKŽė.: amžinas – 2. not ceasing to exist. 3. complete, genuine, great: He became eternally ill (very seriously) Ps.

⁵⁷ Cf. LKŽė.: galas – 5. a small piece of some object: We also gave him a little piece of land (a small plot) to plant potatoes Ėr. Don’t smoke it all; leave me the end [of the cigarette]! Dbk. 8. end: One must listen from beginning to end Gmž. ^ There will be no end to the endless Upn. FŽė: be galo – 1. very: Infinitely large rš. He really wants to get rich Gs. Such speckled pintardos, endlessly (cf. a lot) they lay Krž. 2. for a long time: I feel I could walk like this forever Varn.

⁵⁸ Cf. LKŽė.: labai – 1. extraordinarily, exceptionally: He is very good to me J. Jabl. 2. intensely; a lot: I was very tired yesterday J. Jabl.

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59) I want nothing to prevent this letter from reaching you. I shall be endlessly grateful (cf. always; very) and from the bottom of my heart (cf. sincerely) grateful to you for continuing to provide me with Lithuanian philosophical publications, since obtaining them has now become very difficult. All good wishes to you and your wife⁵⁹.

60) Whatever happens, whether I manage to get out of Europe or not, I shall always be endlessly grateful to you for the steps you have already taken on my behalf. Forgive me for being one of those who plague you with their requests, but that is the situation.

61) Sometimes talking like this moves me to tears. Sometimes I feel endlessly grateful to my conversation partner, and even more indebted, because I have received an invaluable gift of openness.

Then, when the sender expressing thanks emphasizes the state of gratitude itself, the adjective predicate (grateful) is placed in inversion, that is, before the copula (see sentences 62–63; cf. sentences 43–47). When the state of gratitude expressed in this inverted way is intensified, this is conveyed, as seen in sentences 64–66, by manner modifiers used before or after the adjective predicate (cf. sentence 42).

62) We have a pleasant chat about childhood mischief and the difficult life of a pensioner today. Grateful am I also to my wife Elena and the family of my son Gintautas.

63) Apparently, this operation will be carried out by the next generation, which was itself not entangled in the compromising games of that historical period. Grateful am I to you for the review—for the praise, which the book may not have deserved, and especially for the criticism from the perspective of Western culture.

64) Most grateful am I to coach Z. V. and my dear father, who made me stick with this sport and train persistently.

65) I could never see what was written on the board or distinguish the colors on the map. Some teachers helped. Especially grateful am I to history teacher A. V.

66) “My dear doctor,” said the doctor, “there are far fewer disagreements between us than you think. I love him too. I feel as sorry for him as you do. And I am more grateful to him than you are (cf. And I am very grateful to him; more grateful than you think). Without him, I would not have such a good position here.”

⁵⁹ Cf. also a DLKT sentence with I thank, in which its modifier, appearing in a neutral position, is emphasized: I thought I would recover from that last bit of foolishness. Only when the priest administered the last rites did I realize that it was all over. There was a week left. And endlessly (cf. constantly; especially; a lot) thank God for having blindfolded me, for helping me go all the way... Endless thanks to nurse Nijolė, who came every day to dress Nijolė’s wound.

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As mentioned, thanks are also expressed by the verbal noun padėka (‘gratitude’), with modifiers that are typically used prepositively in the available DLKT examples (nuoširdi padėka ‘sincere gratitude’). Sentences 67–74 show that padėka functions as a valency-bearing argument of a stated or implied present-tense first-person singular verb—as either the subject or direct object—and, in sentences 67–71, unlike in sentences 72–74, it is expressed inversely.

67) Under present conditions, she is one of the most important bearers and nurturers of glorious memory. To her is due⁶⁰the greatest gratitudefor preserving in the old Lithuanian land one or another perspective on the very concept of “Lithuanian Jews.”

68) It was not only the late O. Š. who saved Jewish lives, but other Lithuanians too—not just one person, but more. To all of them is due my sincerest gratitude (cf. my sincerest gratitude is due to you all⁶¹).

69) The Czechs, the contest organizers, who were the only ones to exempt the Kaunas residents from the required membership fee for the music competition. To all of them—my sincerest gratitude!

70) “How are you?” “Fine,” Geralt replied in a neutral tone. “I managed to get through even one and a half jobs.” “For the child—special thanks” (cf. “special thanks are due for the child”; “special thanks [are due] for the child”), Vesemir nodded.

71) To the university’s vice-rector, Professor P. Z., who helped improve the manuscript of the monograph with his helpful advice. I express my special gratitude to those who helped prepare this book technically (cf. “I express my special gratitude to those who helped”).

72) “For the Center to operate, good intentions and enthusiasm alone are not enough. Our initiatives and programs would not be implemented without our supporters. Our sincerest gratitude to them all.” So says the center’s director, K. O. P. (also cf. sentence 8)

73) Three years ago, I was treated at the clinics of Kaunas Medical University for ischemic heart disease. I feel profound gratitude to the cardiac surgeon A. S., who helped me recover from a severe coronary thrombosis.

74) I express (cf. “I extend,” “I say”) my sincere gratitude to all my friends and colleagues for their openness, candor, ideas they shared, and willingness to cooperate.

⁶⁰ Cf. LKŽ.: tikti – 9. to occur, to be.

⁶¹ Cf. the DLKT sentence with neutral word order: In general, to all those who provided moral support and otherwise helped publish this “case.” A special note of gratitude is due to my wife Birutė and my children Aistė, Monika, and Donatas, who understandingly let me spend weekends holed up in the library or pay no attention to them.

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A rare exception is sentence 75, where the modifier of the indeclinable noun padėka ‘thanks’ is used inversely (padėką širdžių ‘the thanks of hearts’); it could also be marked with an agreeing modifier (priimki padėką širdingą / nuoširdžią ‘accept heartfelt / sincere thanks’).

75) Lord, accept the thanks of our hearts (cf. accept the thanks of our hearts; accept heartfelt thanks)! What an honorable calling it is to bring light and love to others, proclaim the Word of the Lord, and live with Him and in Him.

The interjections dėkui, ačiū ‘thanks’ “do not name the illocutionary force,” but indicate it even more clearly than dėkoju ‘I thank’ (“show the illocutionary force”) (Zaikauskas 2002: 91; cf. Čepaitienė 2007: 191). Sentences 76–87 make clear that ačiū and dėkui, which are close in meaning to the performative verb and/or predicatively used dėkingas, –a ‘grateful’, are used by analogy with the sentences discussed above. A modifier displaced from its usual position, or an interjection of thanks, is emphasized (see sentences 83–86). For example, in sentence 85 the inverted modifier (širdingai ‘heartily’) emphasizes the intensity of the gratitude expressed by the interjection ačiū (i.e., ačiū ‘thanks’ (not just any old way, but) širdingai ‘heartily’), whereas in sentence 86 the modifier (labai ‘very’) follows the interjection (dėkui ‘thanks’) because the latter is set off, just as the modifier labai ‘very’ occurs in a neutral position in sentence 87 or sentences 78–82, and so on. Finally, sentence 88 shows preposed (labai ‘very’) and postposed (visos širdies ‘with all one’s heart’) modifiers of the interjection ačiū ‘thanks’; expressing different degrees of gratitude, they are emphasized, so the neutral word order (labai ačiū ‘thank you very much’) is marked.

76) With one tug he tore the cage lock off, opened the little door, and lifted out the little man. – My humblest thanks (cf. I thank you most humbly)! – said the little fellow and bowed to the boy. – Could you perhaps lift me up to the lock?

77) I can say that my family life has settled down. I had been preparing for that step for many years, but eventually I had to take the plunge. So thank you very sincerely (cf. I thank you very sincerely) (cf. sentence 59).

78) Beck was driving. – I felt it was better to stay home. – Well then, thank you very much for your concern (cf. well then, I thank you very much / I’m grateful for your concern), – said Chris, pretending to be offended. – I dare not even think what would have happened if I had been alone.

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79) – It’s so good that you answered, – Vaira smiles through her tears. – I might have lost my temper, cursed her out, and ruined everything. Thanks to you, Klaus, very, very grateful to youthanks. Klaus only nods and leaves⁶².

80) But when Grandma Gison now stood before him and said with her characteristic dignity, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the beautiful Mass, sir pastor!” (cf. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the beautiful Mass), he tilted his head even more obliquely onto his shoulder and merely spread his hands.

81) “You haven’t forgotten... An improvement? So nobody, no relatives at all?” – “There’s nobody there. There’s a brother, but he lives somewhere else... I’m so very grateful to you alreadythank you so much (cf. I thank you so much already; I’m so (very) grateful), I don’t know what to say. Truly, it’s a miracle, God himself sent you. How will I ever repay you?” Martynas’s hand was already moving toward his jacket pocket, but suddenly.

82) And the content of that cry is this: – How well You see everything, God, how You see everything and how You understand. How grateful I am, how thankful (cf. How / so (what / such) grateful, how / so (what / such very) grateful!)! You saw that owl of mine. So truly, really, neither did he work there on Sundays, nor anything of the sort.

83) A calendar, and an “M – one” pen, and an “M – one” sticker collection. – Hooray, hooray! – Hooray, hooray, hooray! I want to wish you a good, lovely day. – Thanks very much. – Thank you, you too. Meanwhile, Deimantė? – Yes. – If you turn up the radio, know that the song playing now on M One is dedicated especially to you. – Okay. Thanks very much. – Thank you. Bye.

84) This time Agnė scores a point again. It’s two–nil, and as I’ve already mentioned, you win a set of Lumene products. – Thank you very much. – Thanks, you too. Have a good, lovely day. Meanwhile, Svetlana? – Yes. – If you turn up the radio, the song will be especially for you, okay? – Thanks.

85) – Maybe really let me take it; I’ll carry it for a while. – Thank you, thank you kindly. I’m telling you, we people from Launa are used to it. And you, sir, I feel, aren’t a man of the soil. – What makes you think that? – Your voice. What else?

86) The minister and to continue considering the draft budget, to give the floor to the chair of the Budget Committee, the parliamentary groups, the committees, and so on. Do you agree? Well then⁶³ thank you very much (cf. well then, I thank you very much). E. K. Thank you. CHAIRPERSON. I invite the Honorable Chair of the Budget Committee, A. R., to the rostrum.⁶⁴.

⁶² See also a similar example in DLKT where labai ‘very’ is emphasized: The hostess cautiously opened the door again and placed steaming food on the table. – Thanks, thank you very much. I didn’t really want any yet, – the teacher says, his eyes those of a child caught in the act.

⁶³ Cf. LKŽ: tai – 1. to emphasize or single out a word, phrase, or sentence: Kisielius would cook it in a pot, LKT340(Krd). 2. to emphasize the intensity of a property of an object or an action: That went as well as a whip would for a dog! Plm.

⁶⁴ See also the DLKT sentences where this is emphasized by dėkui, dėkoju: – Well, there won’t be any problems with that! – the boss seemed to breathe more easily. – We’ll just have to coordinate the time with Karidze, but that’s a minor detail... – Well, thanks. Can I go? – Ben slowly got to his feet. – Off you go; we’ll talk at lunchtime...

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87) And we hope that on every occasion you will demonstrate that the security service has absolutely no desire to strangle “Naujoji romuva.” – If so, then many thanks! I, of course, am very interested in seeing the number of subscribers to “Naujoji romuva” grow. And I’m glad you’ve all subscribed to it⁶⁵.

88) At last the applause gradually subsides, people take their seats, and the Czech scholar says in a trembling voice: – Thank you very much, my friends, thank you with all my heart. He bows and walks over to his chair.

The DLKT material under study suggests that in cases where the interjections thanks (may be) interpreted as things, they become similar to constructions with the noun gratitude and an agreeing modifier⁶⁶. For example, the many thanks in sentence 89 resembles the expressions of thanks used in sentences 69–70, expressed by a noun construction (special / most sincere thanks), while that in sentences 90–92 is similar to gratitude with a modifier, functioning as the predicate's object in sentences 74–75. This observation clarifies the reasons for the use of sincere thanks in sentences 93–96: the noun-like thanks is accompanied by an adjective agreeing with it in unmarked gender. In view of this, other expressions the sender chose to use, such as sincere thanks, many thanks, or similar expressions, for example in sentences 97–99, can also be explained.

89) All my relatives and friends remained in Lithuania. Of course, over time you make acquaintances and friends here, too. Strangers helped me a great deal. For that, I owe them—many thanks! At the moment, they are like a second family to me.

90) Father appeared. With his large, beautifully greying patriarchal beard and sturdy, tanned body, he looked ageless. He led the tour himself. “...I say a very big thank-you (cf. I express my great gratitude) to my new father. I never felt he wasn’t my real father,” his daughter Jolanta said twenty years later.

91) – So I must be grateful to you for having to keep going around this God-forsaken backwater! she swore. – Well, then I’ll say a very big thank-you. Many, many thanks. – To us? Sierakailė asked to make sure.

CHAIRPERSON. I nevertheless want to warn you that you are not asking the speaker a question, right? V. B. We are deliberating, yes. CHAIRPERSON. So I thank the honourable N. R. He is right to say that he did not receive the amendments after the first reading.

⁶⁵ See also the DLKT sentence in which this is emphasized by the modifier labai labai: He politely apologized for not having any money, and the driver said even more politely that he didn’t need any money either, since he would be driving alone and empty anyway. – Well, thank you very, very much, the child replied, and this time he got home not quite so late.

⁶⁶ Cf. J. Pikčilingis’s opinion in footnote 43.

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92) The author would be grateful to you, as an actor, I said as calmly as I could. What good is that gratitude to me? Take the thanks to Vaitiekus⁶⁷... (cf. take the gratitude to Vaitiekus). I’d like you to write to Lubys.

93) Until now, Lithuanian linguists have been the ones to foster the Lithuanian language fundamentally, and for this they deserve our heartfelt thanks from us all (cf. we all owe them our heartfelt gratitude). Their participation in the development of the language will be no less important in the future. It would be a misunderstanding if they were to take less interest in this work or even abandon it altogether.

94) Veržiasi tuoktis net kitų miestų gyventojai, meilę bei ištikimybę Baltajai gulbei neseniai iš naujo prisiekė ir kauniečiai (už tai jiems – nuoširdus dėkui) bei miesto meras, sukritikavę valdžios kuluaruose pasigirdusius ketinimus Civilinės metrikacijos biurą iškelti į kitą miesto vietą“.

95) Now—so tragically—Leonidas. I read your words too late. My heartfelt thanks, too, are belated (cf. my heartfelt gratitude is belated, too).

96) So, to dear V. A. D., my heartfelt thanks (cf. V. A. D. [is owed / is due] my heartfelt gratitude; I offer heartfelt gratitude to dear V. A. D.⁶⁸). This is an essay by a talented person. I’d like to know more about him.

97) Decent businesspeople support extracurricular activities, but who wants to do that if it brings no publicity, only heartfelt thanks (cf. it brings no publicity, only [there is] heartfelt gratitude)?.. No, there are still enthusiasts who, undeterred by shortages, organize, evaluate, make suggestions...

98) I extend especially heartfelt thanks to my daughter Laurena (cf. I offer especially heartfelt gratitude to my daughter; *I say especially heartfelt thanks to my daughter;?I say especially heartfelt gratefulness to my daughter), who wrote on one wall of my office: “Daddy, please finish writing the book sooner! Hurry!!!”

99) A few weeks ago, collective-farm workers came here to see me in Grūtas, gave me a rifle, and said a big thank-you. “What for?”

⁶⁷ Also compare a DLKT sentence with the substantivally used thanks: In Swedish, he said that I wasn’t quite right in the head. What can you do! There! Something very much like thanks.

⁶⁸ Compare also these DLKT sentences: To editor G. G., who not only competently edited and arranged the manuscript, but also showed great commitment to getting the book published. I dedicate these words of thanks to my wife Mania, who constantly supported me emotionally and patiently, copied out manuscript drafts by hand many times, to my son Mark, and especially to my daughter. I dedicate my final words of thanks to my two daughters, who accompanied me for part of the journey, and to my wife Susan—because of her love of life and literature, the journey was worthwhile.

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Of course, DLKT also contains examples such as sentences 100–102, where the construction sincere / many thanks could be replaced by the verbal I sincerely / very much thank you or a similar expression. However, the speaker’s choice is evidently not accidental.

100) The charity concert by the Vilnius University song and dance ensemble, directed by V. A., gave the schoolchildren spiritual strength. Once again, sincere thanks (cf. sincere gratitude vs. I sincerely thank you / thanks) to you, dear friends. The staff of UAB “INMEDA”, who helped at the events in Vilnius, earned many words of gratitude.

101) I received your dear little letter, and now, having pushed the account books and other scraps of paper aside, I want to write you at least a few words. First of all, many thanks (cf. great gratitude vs. I thank you very much / grateful / thanks) for the lovely and dear little letter. I am glad that you are well at your mother’s, that you are being pampered, and that you are getting better.

102) However, having met you personally, I can clearly see that you are an honest and honorable person, and if you say something, you believe it; for that, many thanks. God willing, may we meet again, perhaps even at our place, in the land of bitter horseradish?

3.3. Taking Lithuanian expressions of gratitude as the point of comparison, the few LINGUEE translations from Lithuanian use the expressions I thank you very much, very grateful, many thanks, only one of which, as sentence 103 shows, is inverted. The construction under discussion, thank you very much, is translated as the English thank you very much and the German nominal construction vielen Dank. Expressions of gratitude using the verb to thank and a preposed modifier (I thank you very much, I want to thank you very much) are translated into English expressions of gratitude conveyed by a verb, adjective, or interjection (I sincerely thank; I am appreciative; thank you very much) (see sentences 104–106), and into German verbal (ich danke sehr), adjectival (sehr dankbar), and nominal (vielen / herzlichen Dank) constructions (see sentences 107–109)⁶⁹. Lithuanian great gratitude is translated using nominal constructions in English and German (eins großes Dankeschön; a big „thank you“), whereas many thanks is rendered as the English thank you very much, many thanks or the German ich bedanke, möchte herzlich danken; vielen / herzlichen Dank, or similar expressions. Conversely, the few LINGUEE data show that English verbal gratitude (I thank you very much) is translated by the Lithuanian performative I thank you (see sentence 110), while thank you very much is translated by the synonymous Lithuanian expressions I thank you very much, many thanks; the German verbal construction ich danke schön corresponds to Lithuanian I thank you very much, while gratitude expressed by a noun (ein

⁶⁹ Because the number of LINGUEE examples is small, the number of sentences using one or another expression of gratitude is not specified.

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herzliches Dankeschön) corresponds to the Lithuanian nominal expression (great gratitude) or verbal expression (I sincerely thank you); danke sehr is translated as I thank you very much / grateful / thanks. Thus, the limited translation data available suggest a typical reciprocal correspondence between verbal, nominal, and interjectional expressions of gratitude in the respective languages (i.e. I thank you very much ↔ I thank you very much; ich danke sehr; great gratitude ↔ a big „thank you“; vielen herzlichen Dank; many thanks ↔ thank you very much; danke sehr) and/or other possible correlations between expressions (cf. also sentences 11–17), but do not confirm that word order in the languages examined influences inverted expressions of gratitude in Lithuanian.

103) We cannot allow the national regulator, after such a lengthy process of analysing Article 7, to say, “Thank you very much for your opinion, but I shall stick to my own method,” and simply act as if nothing had happened.

... we cannot accept that, having been through the very lengthy Article 7 review process the notifying national regulator can say ‘thank you very much for your point of view, but I prefer my approach’.

... it cannot be acceptable for the notifying national regulatory authority, after a very lengthy review procedure under Article 7, simply to be able to say: “Many thanks for your point of view, but I prefer my own approach.”

104) [Įsipareigojimą] šiandien dar sykį pakartojo Komisijos narys K. De Gucht ir nuoširdžiai dėkoju jam už jo rūpinimąsi.

... which was today reiterated by Commissioner De Gucht and I sincerely thank him for his care.

106) For that, I sincerely thank you.

... and for that I am most warmly appreciative.

106) Many thanks, Madam President, and many thanks to all the Members who spoke in this debate.

Thank you very much, Madam President, and thank you very much to all the Members who have spoken during this debate.

107) Many thanks to everyone for their support, and I would like to join Renate Weber and the other shadow rapporteurs in thankingthe secretariat of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and all the advisers.

Ithankyou veryfor all your support, and I would like to thankRenate Weber and the other shadow rapporteursjoin, which they expressed to the

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the Secretariat of the Committee on Civil Liberties and all the advisers.

108) Of course, thank you very much, Parliament, for today’s discussions.

Iamnaturally grateful to Parliamentvery grateful, that we have held this debate today.

109) First, thank you very much to our two fellow Members of Parliament from the Committee on Budgets. First, many thanks to our two colleagues from the Committee on Budgets.

110) I thank you very much for all your support.

Thank you very much everyone for your support.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Having examined 800 examples from DLKT in which dėkoju, dėkingas, -a, padėka, -ą, dėkui, ačiū are used with preposed and postposed modifiers, it can be seen that in contemporary Lithuanian dėkui labai is used by analogy with dėkoju labai, labai esu dėkingas, that is, through a creative and competent choice of a marked strategy for expressing gratitude. Thus, the inverted dėkui labai is just as appropriate to use as other stylistically marked expressions. The addresser rarely chooses inverted word order in a construction expressing gratitude (6.6% of all cases, or 53 out of 800 examples).

With regard to word order and information structure, the material examined allows us to set out the following correlations in expressions of gratitude. In (in)transitive clauses with neutral word order, the typical nominative-marked subject (Aš) corresponds to an unmarked topic, which is associated with the principles of so-called inherent topicality: varying degrees of animacy, agency, definiteness, topicality, and so on (Aš nuoširdžiai dėkoju Jums / esu nuoširdžiai dėkingas už pagalbą; Aš tariu Jums nuoširdžią padėką). In terms of inherent topicality, the indirect dative object (Jums) is the second candidate for sentence topic after the nominative subject. The rheme of the sentence is then expressed by an atypical subject—a noun denoting an abstract entity ((=67) Jai tenka nuoširdžiausia padėka; cf. Jums patinka klasikinė muzika). The key word of gratitude or its modifier can be made rheme by choosing active or passive constructions (resp.) (Aš skiriu Jums nuoširdžią padėką or Jums skirta mano nuoširdi padėka), exclamatory sentences ((=39) Dėkoju širdingai jums už svetingumą! (=53) Kokia aš tau dėkinga! (=82) Kaip dėkui, kaip ačiū!). When using gratitude constructions with inverted word order, the addresser emphasizes the key word of gratitude itself (Dėkoju labai), its valency actant (Jums (and not someone else) labai dėkoju), or

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modifiers (I thank you (not just anyhow, but) sincerely). In cases of neutral word order, contrastive rheme is indicated by that (That is very, very much thanks).

The numerous LINGUEE translations did not confirm the influence of unmarked English and German word order on the marked use of many thanks in Lithuanian.

Considering actual usage in contemporary Lithuanian and the different strategies chosen for expressing gratitude to (not) actualize the state of gratitude resp. the act (I am very grateful resp. I thank you very much resp. many thanks), it seems likely that the addresser uses great / heartfelt thanks to actualize gratitude conceived as a thing (cf. (=92) Take my thanks to Vaitiekus). This economical interjection, which “intrudes” into the argument position of a predicate expressed by a noun, thank you, thanks, is marked on the model of the noun gratitude: an adjectival modifier with thank you, thanks agrees, that is, an unmarked (masculine) adjective is selected (great gratitude resp. great thanks). Of course, there are contexts in which the construction great / heartfelt thanks can also be compared with I thank you very much / sincerely. Nevertheless, it seems likely that in cases where, owing to linguistic economy, differences in the actualization of gratitude expression, and/or other reasons, thank you, thanks occupies in a sentence the position of the performative I thank you or the predicatively used grateful, the modifiers of the interjection are (would be) selected according to these latter forms (I thank you very much / sincerely, very / sincerely grateful resp. many thanks / heartfelt thanks)⁷⁰.

⁷⁰ Cf.: “Expressions of thanks always perform an act of thanking; they are competitors of the performative verb I thank you, able to replace one another in any situation, both in everyday speech and in formal settings” (Čepaitienė 2014: 2).

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ŠALTINIAI

BLKŽₑ – Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas: elektroninis variantas. Vyr. red. Danutė Liutkevičienė, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2015. Prieiga internete http://bkz.lki.lt.

DLKT – Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos tekstynas. Sudarė Kauno Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Kompiuterinės lingvistikos centras. Prieiga internete http://donelaitis.vdu.lt.

DLKŽₑ – Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas. Vyriausiasis redaktorius Stasys Keinys, 7-as pataisytas ir papildytas leidimas. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2012, XXVI, 969 p.; elektroninis variantas, 2015. Prieiga internete www.lkiis.lki.lt.

FŽₑ – Frazeologizmų žodynas. Rengė: Irena Erm anytė, Ona Kažukauskaitė, Gertrūda Naktinienė, Jonas Paulauskas (redagavo), Zita Šimėnaitė, Angelė Vilutytė. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2001, XVIII, 886 p.; elektroninis variantas, 2015. Prieiga internete http://lkiis.lki.lt/frazeologizmu.

LINGUEE – Vertimų žodynas: elektroninis variantas. Prieiga internete https://lt.linguee.com/.

LKŽₑ – Lietuvių kalbos žodynas (t. 1–20, 1941–2002): elektroninis variantas. Redaktorių kolegija: Gertrūda Naktinienė (vyr. redaktorė), Jonas Paulauskas, Rimutė Petrokienė, Vytautas Vitkauskas, Jolanta Zabarskaitė, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2005 (atnaujinta versija, 2008). Prieiga internete www.lkz.lt.

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DIDELIS DĖKUI AND DĖKUI LABAI

IN THE MODERN LITHUANIAN (WRITTEN) LANGUAGE

S u m m a r y

The article deals with the question whether the thank-you constructions dėkui (ačiū) labai, nuoširdžiai (thank you very much, with all my heart) and didelis, nuoširdus dėkui (ačiū) (many, sincere thanks) are fit to use in the modern Lithuanian language. The thank-you constructions are addressed in a syntactic-semantic and thematic-rhematic structure aspect. The study relies on material gathered in the Corpus of the Modern Lithuanian Language (CMLL) by the Centre of Computational Linguistics of Vytautas Magnus University and the online translations dictionary LINGUEE.

Analysis of CMLL cases where the Lithuanian words for thanks, dėkoju, dėkingas, -a, padėka, -ą, dėkui, ačiū, are used with prepositional and postpositional modifiers has shown that in the modern Lithuanian language, dėkui labai is used by the analogy of dėkoju labai, labai esu dėkingas (I am very grateful), which is to say by choosing a marked strategy of expression of thanks in a creative and competent way. The inverse dėkui labai is just as appropriate to use as other stylistically marked cases of expression. The addresser tends to choose an inverse order of words in a thank-you construction rarely (6.6proc. of all cases, or 53 cases out of 800).

In terms of word order and thematic-rhematic structure, the subject material allows mapping the following correlations of thank-you expressions. In (in)transitive sentences with neutral word order, the typical subject (I) that is marked by the nominative mirrors an unmarked topic, or theme, that is related to the principles of topicworthiness: different values of animacy, agency, definiteness, and so on (Aš nuoširdžiai dėkoju Jums / esu nuoširdžiai dėkingas už pagalbą (I thank you with all my heart / I sincerely thank you for your help); Aš tariu Jums nuoširdžią padėką (I am extending my sincere thanks to you)). When it comes to topicworthiness, the indirect object of the dative (to you) ranks second after the subject nominative to become the topic of the sentence. Then, the rheme of the sentence is expressed with a non-typical subject: a noun denoting an abstract thing (Jai tenka nuoširdžiausia padėka (Sincerest thanks go to her); cf., Jums patinka klasikinė muzika (You love classical music)). The keyword or modifier of gratitude can be turned into a rheme by choosing to use active resp. passive constructions (Aš skiriu Jums nuoširdžią padėką (I give you my sincere gratitude) resp. Jums skirta mano nuoširdi padėka (You have my sincere gratitude)), exclamatory sentences (Dėkoju širdingai jums už svetingumą! (I sincerely thank you for your hospitality!) Kokia aš tau dėkinga! (How grateful I am to you!) Kaip dėkui, kaip ačiū! (Thanks so much!)). By using inversely worded thank-you

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constructions, the addresser accentuates the keyword of gratitude (Dėkoju labai (Thank you very much)), its valence actant (Jums (o ne kam kitam) labai dėkoju (Thank you (and not someone else very much)) or modifier (Jums dėkoju (ne bet kaip, bet) nuoširdžiai (I thank you (not just in any way, but sincerely)), much like in cases when the constructions dėkoju labai (thank you very much)), dėkingas esu labai (I am very grateful), and so on. If the word order is neutral, the contrasting rheme is evidenced by the word tai (so) (Tai labai, labai dėkui (So thanks a lot)).

The limited number of LINGUEE translations have failed to confirm any influence an unmarked word order in the English or German language may have on the marked usage of dėkui labai (thank you very much) in the Lithuanian language.

Considering the actual usage of the modern Lithuanian language and the different strategies of expression of gratitude chosen to (non-)actualise the state resp. act of gratitude (esu labai dėkingas (I am very grateful) resp. labai dėkoju (thank you very much) resp. labai dėkui (many thanks)), the CMLL cases have revealed that the addresser uses didelis / nuoširdus dėkui (ačiū) (many/sincere thanks) to actualise gratitude perceived as a thing (cf. Dėkui nešk Vaitiekui (Give my thanks to Vaitiekus)). In an (in)transitive sentence, the economy-sized interjection ačiū, dėkui (thank you, thanks) that is trying to wiggle its way to replace a predicate argument expressed as a noun is marked after the example of the noun padėka (gratitude) with an agreement modifier: the adjectival modifier with ačiū, dėkui is agreed by choosing an adjective of an unmarked gender (masculine) (nuoširdi / didelė padėka (sincere/big gratitude) resp. nuoširdus / didelis dėkui (sincere/big thanks)). In some contexts, the construction didelis / nuoširdus dėkui (big/sincere thanks) can be contrasted with labai / nuoširdžiai dėkoju (thank you very much/sincerely). Still, one should believe that in cases when, owing to the economy of language, differences in the actualisation of the expression of gratitude, and/or other reasons, ačiū, dėkui in a sentence takes the position of the performative dėkoju or predicatively used dėkingas, -a, interjection modifiers are chosen on the basis of the latter (labai / nuoširdžiai dėkoju (thank you very much/sincerely), labai / nuoširdžiai dėkingas (I am very/sincerely grateful) resp. labai / nuoširdžiai ačiū, dėkui (thanks a lot/sincere thanks)).

KEYWORDS: thank-you construction, interjection, inverse order of words, thematic-rhematic structure, interlanguage communication.

LORETA VAIČIULYTĖ-SEMĖNIENĖ

Lietuvių kalbos institutas

Petro Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius

[email protected]

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